Israel

 Postcard is some really beautiful coastal town. Manarola. I wouldn't live there, it looks steep.

Starting off with Michael among mirrors, so there's more of him. Then there are dancers who look exactly like him, with the same white suits, which gets confusing when they all move around so fast. Which one is he?

Find Michael

Michael: "It was FIRE, even though I can't hear well in my ears"

The stage is black, white and red, with the title projected on the floor at times. The singing is adequate, which is a relief to the ears after Finland, although it's not exactly amazing either, and the act isn't doing enough to convince me that there's a song in there.

There are a lot of fast camera angle changes (as you'd expect from this song), Michael isn't always getting them right. The dance routine is well-rehearsed though. I still don't like it, but those who do probably still will. Over to Jonas for the rest of the day.

Finland

Postcard: Rasmus are in a lake with trees and  a lot of snow. Almost like home, except that there are mountains around it.

Starts with Lauri holding a yellow helium balloon and releasing it. Later the band is revealed among ginormous white and black balloons. And he takes his shirt (or, rain jacket) off.

As for the singing, let's ask our Spanish correspondent. 

Well, I'm not writing it off just yet - it very much feels like an actual band performing, and with roaring audience the singing might not matter so much. The lights and simplistic colour pattern work quite well, and it ends with a lot of energy.

But the verses...

Armenia

 Postcard is a waterfall. Very nice, but totally overshadowing the one that's on stage.

Everything is white or off-white. Rosa's outfit, the microphone, and the postits. So many postits. The bed, the sofa, the bedside lamp, everywhere.

But she tears them off. Not one-by-one, just pulling them in bunches to reveal some words ("the last one", "june 22" etc.). And in the last chorus she makes a massive round hole in the wall to appear in the other side, facing the audience. This could be great with audience - going from intimate to huge.

... And yet it took them only about two minutes to put everything back where it was for the second runthrough. Singing is just fine and this is all quite effective, I can see why they put it on last.

For everyone going to the arena, you're just going to see a wall for 2:30 minutes, so that would be a good time to go to the bar.

Norway

 Postcard has enormous Subwoolfers projected on lakes and mountains. They really are the biggest band in the universe.

Subwoolfer look the same, dance the same and have the same props. So what is new?

First there are some things on the screen. Parts of the title in flashy 3d letters (very PowerPoint). Sometime superimposed on the stage, sometime completely taking over the picture - yellow fonts on a starry blue background, I guess intended to look retro. And there is some actual live singing.

Yes, definitely live singing. They don't sound like they did in MGP at all. A bit off at times. I actually prefer it this way, gives them some much-needed personality.

And there's a lot of yellow and blue. Everywhere. You'd think it's Sweden. Or Ukraine. Or Palau. It does go red during the middle-eight.

Last runthrough to get the hi-five right. All in all - it does what we expected.

Iceland

 Oh no I see "-5". Oh yes I see Systur. Oh no it's "-5" again.

So, the during the ten seconds of Iceland that were actually streamed, we got a glimpse of Systur looking and singing pretty much the same as they did in Söngvakeppnin, in a golden-red stage.

We have a stream!

Just enough for the last runthrough. It's all very... elegant. Quite suitable for the song. Nocturne-esque lights spots on the floor, a bit of red-gold light that intensifies as the song goes on and explodes in the last chorus. And there's a triple split screen moment with each syster looking in a different direction.

A bit like this, but sideways

All in all - it does what it should do, difficult to tell if it's enough to stand out.